Sunday, October 18, 2009

The one indispensible ingredient of this dish is the vivid red-orange palm oil called dendê (pronounced: den-DAY). Other oils, like annatto oil may be substituted for color, but there is no acceptable substite for the flavor of dendê. In North America's larger cities, I have found dendê in Latin American or African food stores, although name dendê will only be used in Latin American stores, the African name being merely palm oil. It can also be purchased online in the USA at Latinmerchant.com.